October 28, 2013

Cirque Alchemy Collection Swatches

Hi guys! Hope you all had a great weekend! Today I have the new Cirque Collection to share with you! The Collection is called Alchemy and it showcases the magic and mysticism behind the transformation process. There are 10 shades in the collection ranging from beautiful shimmers to holos and glitters. I always look forward to seeing new Cirque collections and was intrigued about this collection as soon as I saw the promo images for it. Check out all the swatches after the jump!

Arcane Fire is a ruby red with golden micro glitter. This is a beauty, the gold bits are visible in the sun and in lower lighting. The formula was great, it was a really nice consistency and the opacity was good. I used 2 coats for the photos below.

Lighting: Shade

Baptisia is a shimmery blurple. This tends to lean very blue due to the shimmer out in the sun and in the shade and lower lighting it leans more towards purple. The formula was again, really nice. It was easy to apply and the opacity was great. I used 2 coats for the photos below.

Lighting: Shade

Chainmail is charcoal grey glitter in a slightly grey base. There are also holographic bits in here but I couldn't capture them with my camera. This can be worn layered or on it's own, I like the way it looks layered best! The formula was good, it wasn't thick and the glitter payoff when layered was great. I used 1 coat over Girly Bits Elephant Shoe for the photos below.

Lighting: Shade

Chrysopoeia is a yellow gold holo. This is a favorite for me in the collection, I feel like yellow is a color that isn't represented enough in holo form so I'm always happy to see one in a collection. The holo is nice and strong in this, moreso than it looks in photos. The formula was good, it was a nice consistency and the opacity was great. I used 2 coats for the photos below.

Ica Valley is a gold glitter. At first I was going to layer this over Arcane Fire because I loved how they looked next to each other but it ended up being a bit too opaque for that. I feel like this would be really beautiful for glitter gradients for the holiday time! The formula was good, it was a little bit thick due to the amount of glitter but it was easy to apply and the opacity was fantastic. I used 2 coats for the photos below.

Lighting: Shade

Lichen is an olive green that has a golden flash to it out in the sun and a touch of a grassy green duochrome in lower lighting. This is another favorite for me, I love my greens after all! The formula was great and super opaque! I used 1 coat for the photos below.

Lighting: Shade

Lighting: Shade

Magnum Opus is a charcoal grey base with a purple flash and a holographic finish. The holo was much stronger in person than it's looking in my photos. I really love the purple flash and undertones this has, it makes the shade interesting even in low lighting where the holo doesn't peek out. The formula was good, the consistency and opacity were both good. I used 2 coats for the photos below.

Mink is a chocolate brown holo. I know brown isn't everyone's favorite but I love it, especially when it's in holo form. There was also a bit of a coppery brown flash to this that I like! The formula was good, it was a good consistency and easy to apply. I used 2 coats for the photos below.

Stella is a rose gold glitter. This is good layered or on it's own, I like it on it's own the best. The opacity is nice along with the consistency of the polish, it's easy to get it opaque on it's own. I used 2 coats for the photos below.

Lighting: Shade

Vectors is a black glitter top coat. There is everything from square glitter to bar and hex glitter in here. There is also a holographic shimmer, it doesn't show much on camera but I could see it in person out in the sun. The formula was great, it wasn't thick and the glitter payoff was great. I used 1 coat over Zoya Natasha for the photos below. The model in 1 of the promo images for the collection was wearing a combo like this and I just had to do it myself!

Lighting: Shade

The Alchemy Collection from Cirque is available now at CirqueColors.com, prices range from $13-$15. You can also find Cirque at several etailers all over the world, for a full list check out the Stockist Page on the Cirque website here.

18 comments:

I like the brand quite a bit, but this collection just isn't calling to me. I wish they'd had done some non-holo shimmers! No matter, I will keep watching the brand closely. There's always next time (and I can now use the money on KB Shimmer's new stuff :P)

On polishes that you prefer layered, but that are semi sheer or not completely dense or mate have a tinted base, would it be possible to have maybe one nail in your swatches or perhaps a nail wheel that shows what the polish looks like on its own? I prefer sheer finishes and often the bases you choose can change the colour the finished product is on the nail and it's very hard to judge consistency & true opacity. I know there are other blogs that may do the individual items that way but it's only useful to see other blogs if you know you're interested in something to begin with. I sub to your blog because it's such an overview it gives more variety than individual blogs do.

I just have seen several swatches in the last few posts that say you prefer them layered but they could be fine on their own and you clearly dislike sheer textures, I just would appreciate seeing polishes in ways that maybe you wouldn't wear but someone else might, but it would be impossible to know since all you show currently is preferential combos. I'm not suggesting full swatches being different, just, say, one nail of the swatch being straight from the bottle to give a baseline control, and then with your preferred application being the main focus.

I'm sure they do, I wasn't speaking of these specifically, just this collection included a polish that illustrated what I meant.

my point is that I don't have access to many sellers and I see collections first on blogger sites (as I'm sure many do) and use the blogger swatches to determine what, if any, polish to seek out.So, for example, if someone is looking for something like chain mail with a clear base then it wouldn't be obvious this collection has that since you feature it only over another colour.

I'm not saying you have to, of course, it's just a suggestion. I have yet to find a blogger who does that -show both preference and non-subjective swatches in the same post- and I thought of a way for it to be incorporated easily. I've been a collector for nearly a decade now and have been into polish for far longer. I nearly exclusively seek out new collections via blog posts (there are hundreds of manufactuerers now as you know, there is no way to keep up with them all and look at every single polish site every day.)

I swatch things how I wear them, blogging is my hobby not my job I don't have unlimited hours in the day to swatch every polish every way someone could possibly want to see it. I'm sure there are other blogs out there that do that would be a good reference for you...Vampy Varnish for example often swatches glitter without base colors.

No offense, but isn't sharing swatches and her ideas for ways to wear them enough of a "service"? It's not a job and personally, it seems like most people prefer to wear them layered and I've seen people discussing layering options for the new stuff coming out... which would indicate that most people intend to wear them layered. So if that's how most people would wear them and how Jen herself chooses to wear them, why would she show them another way? Other bloggers swatch glitters without base colours and if that's how they choose to wear them, cool. I'd much rather see how a blogger would practically wear a polish. Lots of Instagram people show them without base colours too.

Love love love this collection and your swatches just sealed it for me... My bank account hates me right. :D (I picked up some of the colors but have not had a chance to try them out yet... now I have to! :))

Great swatches!! I love this whole collection. I have a question for you... I'm looking at buying either Helios or Ica Valley, they seem so similar. How do you find these 2 compare to one another? Thank you!

Hello, I just had to say I love these. When I saw that green, I started turning a similar shade with envy ;) Then it moved onto that gorgeous purple tinged grey holo... The grey shade with the slight purple tint reminds me of morning mist on distant mountains. I was thinking that was it, nothing could top those two, then up pops that little minx "mink" and that's it, I am now drooling, Homer Simpson style! A gradient of mink and lichen would look great. Keep the lichen near the tips and use a nude shade to draw a little cartoon worm, poking it's head out of one nail as an accent!